Press Play with Madeleine Brand: California case: free speech v. abortion rightsCrisis pregnancy centers are generally run by pro-life groups that aim to convince pregnant women not to get abortions. A California law requires that employees tell their clients that the state offers free and low-cost abortions and other family planning services. Now a group of these centers is arguing that the law violates their freedom of speech.

UnFictionalUnbelievably true stories of chance encounters that changed the world. A pair of mail-order shoes that led to the film The Outsiders. A secret road to a California paradise. The day LA and smog first met. Stories that will stick in your head like a memory. It’s UnFictional, hosted by Bob Carlson.

The DocumentThe Document is a new kind of mash-up between documentaries and radio. It goes beyond clips and interviews, mining great stories from the raw footage of documentaries present, past and in-progress. A new episode is available every other Wednesday on iTunes and wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

To the PointA weekly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

Culture of suspicion at the LA Times

There are fears that the Los Angeles Times is building a shadow, non-union newsroom. The paper’s new Editor in Chief, Jim Kirk, will have to calm those fears. We find out what’s happening to this town’s storied newspaper.

FROM THIS EPISODE

“The Los Angeles Times is like a Soviet circus right now” -- that’s what one current anonymous staffer told the Huffington Post. There are fears that the paper is building a shadow, non-union newsroom. Jim Kirk, the new Editor in Chief, will have to calm those fears. We find out what’s happening to this town’s storied newspaper.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department wants to talk with former USC medical school dean, Carmen Puliafito, about the death of a 3-week-old boy in October. Puliafito made the 911 call. He wasn’t the father of the child, but he was apparently having an affair with the mother, a young woman who was a drug addict and part of a group Puliafito did drugs with.

Big-time Republican donors Charles and David Koch hosted their semi-annual retreat this weekend outside of Palm Springs. Their network of deep-pocketed conservative groups pledged to spend more than $400 million on midterm races. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed reports that some of President Trump’s top political advisors may be skirting campaign finance laws as they gear up for his re-election bid in 2020.

Figure skater Tara Lipinski won gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. She was 15 years old. She later became a commentator along with Johnny Weir at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. They were a huge hit, and will be back for NBC at the Olympics in Pyeongchang that begin in February.

Matt Holzman, host of KCRW’s The Document, just got back from the Sundance Film Festival, where he judged the documentary competition. This means he got to see a lot of films, and he shares some of his favorites.